


Thank Naminé

by disAsterling



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Kinda Fluffy, i wrote this in like half an hour last night, not really explicitly romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:15:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29030754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disAsterling/pseuds/disAsterling
Summary: Sora has been trying to thank Naminé since he awoke from his year-long sleep... but thank her for what?
Relationships: Naminé/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Kudos: 10





	Thank Naminé

“You know, I never actually asked you why.”

Naminé started; she hadn’t heard Sora come in. “Asked me why what?”

“Why I was thanking you.” Sora laced his fingers behind his head. “When I woke up, Jiminy’s journal said “Thank Naminé,” but at the time, none of us even knew who you _were_. And… I still don’t really understand.”

“Oh.” Naminé looked down at her hands, unable to bring herself to look Sora in the eyes. “To be honest, I didn’t understand either, after everything I did.”

“What did you do?” Sora’s voice wasn’t angry, wasn’t accusing, just curious.

“You really want to know?”

Sora gave no audible reply, but when Naminé looked up, he was nodding earnestly.

“Well, okay…” Naminé shifted uncomfortably. “You might want to reserve judgment on that thank-you until you know what I did. What I’m really like.”

She launched into the story—how she’d awoken in dusky half-light before a rambling, macabre castle; how she’d wandered its stark white halls and chambers until the Organization arrived; how Larxene had found her and taken her to Marluxia, who had seen her usefulness and claimed her as his own like a toy or puppet; and Sora’s arrival.

“If I had ever had dreams before, you were everything I had dreamed of. Or maybe you were just everything I didn’t know I wanted. A hero, someone brave and kind and loyal who would do anything for the people he loved. Who could free me from my colorless prison if only I could be someone he loved!” She realized her voice had risen quite a bit, and she shrank back, chagrined. “Um. Sorry.”

“Why don’t I remember this Castle Oblivion?”

“I’m getting to that.” Naminé took a moment to gather her thoughts and steady her breathing. “The fact that you were a hero wasn’t the only thing that interested me. I could _see_ your memories, bits and bytes forming images weaving into stories in one long, rippling chain. I could see other chains connected in places, though not where they went—the memories you shared with other people. And I made the mistake of mentioning it.”

“Why was that a mistake?” Sora asked, wide-eyed. “It sounds amazing.”

“Well… what do you know about Marluxia?”

“Marluxia… Marluxia, Marluxia…” He furrowed his brow. “He’s the black coat with the pink hair, right?”

Naminé nodded. “And definitely the worst of the ones at Castle Oblivion. As soon as he found out about my power, I could almost see the gears turning in his brain. I mean, not literally, not like I could see your memories, but—“

“Stop, stop, I know what you mean!” Sora smiled reassuringly and sat down next to her, placing a comforting hand on her knee, making her jump slightly. He started to move his hand away, but she covered it with her own to keep it where it was. Selfish though it may have been, she wanted to savor Sora’s regard while she still had it.

“Okay so. Marluxia.” She continued her story, trying not to leave out a single detail—her captors’ treatment of both her and Sora, Riku Replica, and most importantly (and painfully), her gradual draining of Sora’s memories. “I think some part of me knew that Marluxia wanted to use you the way he was using me, but I liked that you loved me. That you _wanted_ me. Even though it was all a lie.”

“You must have been really lonely.”

“I mean, there was everyone from the Or—“

“You don’t have to be alone to be lonely,” Sora interrupted. He twisted the hand still resting on her knee to grasp her hand. “Believe me. I know.”

Naminé couldn’t believe it—didn’t _want_ to believe it—but the memories still swirling around him, the images she tried to ignore, tried not to think about too much, revealed that he was being truthful. Sora, the hero, the boy everyone loved, was in his own way every bit as lonely as she had been. As she still was.

“You don’t have to tell me any more,” Sora offered, his voice unusually soft. “I won’t be mad if you wanna stop here.”

Naminé managed a shake of her head. “No, you should know.” She continued the story, detailing Sora’s decline into single-minded focus—no, into _obsession_ with her. She couldn’t meet his eyes, couldn’t even look in his direction, but whenever she paused or her voice wavered, she felt him squeeze her hand.

“By the time Axel got rid of Vexen, I was seriously regretting everything I’d done to you, but what could I do? There was always someone watching me, making sure I couldn’t escape. That’s what I thought, anyway.” With a bit more confidence than before, she told Sora about Axel’s double-cross, how she had made her escape and practically flown through the castle to find him, just in time to reveal the truth about Riku Replica… and herself.

“And you…!” Naminé managed to make eye contact with Sora for about half a second before losing her nerve again. “You weren’t even upset! Somehow, the promise was still real to you, even though you knew I had planted it. And you fought _even harder_ to save me, because that’s the kind of person you are.” She wasn’t sure when she had started crying, but now she was definitely sniffling.

“So then what did I do?” Sora prompted.

So Naminé told him the rest—how he’d defeated Larxene and then Marluxia, and then chosen to go to sleep and have his memories of the castle erased in favor of his old memories being returned to him. “So you see, you really don’t have anything to thank me for.”

Sora hummed thoughtfully. “I think… I think at the time, I wanted to be able to thank you for restoring my memories. And I still do. But I also want to thank you for everything else—calling the Lingnering Will, helping Kairi and Roxas and Xion, protecting me from myself back in the castle—heck, even changing my memory in the first place!”

“Why would you want to _thank_ me for that?”

“Because it meant that everything happened the way it did, and I got to meet you… and have nice memories with you. You know, memories not involving life-threatening situations.”

“Even though they were fake memories?”

“Hey. Look at me.”

Slowly, reluctantly, Naminé met his gaze. His eyes seemed softer and bluer than ever.

“Thank you. For everything. I mean it. And um, about the memory thing…” Sora’s face reddened slightly. “Maybe they _were_ fake memories. Maybe it doesn’t even matter since I don’t have them anymore. But what if we make some new memories together instead? You know, happy memories.”

For the first time in her short, turbulent life, Naminé felt the lonely ache in her chest begin to lessen. “I’d like that.”


End file.
